At 7mos. it is time to start some formal obedience. Teach your dog to come on command without the bumper first, then demand the same obedience when he has the bumper.

Also, you should think about force fetching your dog. This will help with your recall problem. As you teach the dog to hold and then walk with the bumper, you can get him to come calmly to you in an enclosed area at first and then transition to coming calmly and directly to you outdoors.

I had the same problem with my lab. Throw the bumper, wait till he gets in, and then walk away. Turn your back and walk in the complete opposite direction. Your dog won't want to get left behind (lonely pup syndrome), so they are going to follow you. Two weeks of this, and my lab was fixed.

Windjammers idea works well for young pups but, at 7mos. old, your dog probably wont care if you are walking away or not because he is big and fast enough to run around you and still maintain the same distance away from you. He needs to be taught to come directly to you under any circumstance and not play keep away or just decide it's okay to go off on his own and chew on his prize.

ducker (6/3/2013)At 7mos. it is time to start some formal obedience. Teach your dog to come on command without the bumper first, then demand the same obedience when he has the bumper.

Also, you should think about force fetching your dog. This will help with your recall problem. As you teach the dog to hold and then walk with the bumper, you can get him to come calmly to you in an enclosed area at first and then transition to coming calmly and directly to you outdoors.

This is solid advice. @ 7 months old, turning your back and running away will not work as Ducker states in his other post.

Remember, the longer you delay the more engrained the habit/action becomes. If you can't control the return now and you don't change/train for it, don't ever expect it to suddenly happen over night some time. Dog's need to be trained, proofed for compliance in various conditions, and then corrected for it. It's time to solidify your OB. The more you let him get away with it, the harder it becomes to change a habit!!

For what it's worth, I didn't start training my lab until he was a year and a half, and this technique did work. That being said, my dog does have slight separation issues, so I can't quantify this argument for every dog out there.